As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to increase in Taiwan, it is important to identify all potential scenarios in which the virus can spread.
With a level 3 COVID-19 alert implemented nationwide, many precautions are already in place. Mask wearing outside, and in public spaces and office buildings, is mandatory, schools are closed, restaurants no longer offer inside dining, identification for contact tracing purposes is required before entering buildings and stores, and companies are increasingly allowing or requiring employees to work from home. Social distancing is encouraged.
Some innovations to address this new reality will likely continue into the post-pandemic era due to their inherent advantages.
The technology to have employees work from home has existed for some time; COVID-19 has given companies the final nudge to implement it. Remote learning is not ideal, but it does come with certain advantages. International companies have realized that they no longer need to send executives and market researchers to the other side of the world to attend a single meeting.
Changes can be introduced into other areas of life, too.
In Taiwan, garbage trucks do almost nightly rounds of their allotted areas, with teams of workers receiving trash from residents who gather at designated spots at scheduled times along the route.
It is an efficient system for keeping trash off the streets, and places some responsibility for garbage disposal in the hands of residents not living in managed buildings or communities, but it does have its shortcomings, even under ordinary circumstances.
Residents are tied to being at home at certain times; in some areas only certain types of trash are processed on certain days; and collection areas along busy roads become points of congestion.
In the pandemic, minor inconveniences can become dangerous interactions. In a time of social distancing, residents gather in close proximity not only to each other, but also to the workers who wait for up to 30 minutes before moving to the next location. From there, the workers return to the depot, where they meet other teams who have served other routes.
They can wear masks and plastic visors for additional COVID-19 protection, but their job is sweaty in the summer months, spurring them to lift their visors to create easier airflow and wipe away their sweat.
This system not only risks infection among members of a community, it also means that collectors could infect residents, or be infected by them, before moving to another neighborhood.
In Japan, residents are responsible for their household trash and for separating recyclables. They leave their bags in designated containers outside their apartment buildings for collectors to pick up overnight. Applied in Taiwan, this would remove the need for person-to-person contact, as well as the inconvenience of being tied to a certain time and location.
Taiwan could introduce smart collection points that register the information of people throwing garbage, just in case the system is abused or recyclables miscategorized. A payment system could be included to obviate the need for designated trash bags, as implemented in Taipei.
If the points are available at all times, there would be less congestion on busy roads. The collection points would be fewer than with the roaming truck, but there would also be much more time, and more flexibility, for residents to get there.
Even though the number of new confirmed cases is increasing at an arithmetic, and not exponential, rate, we cannot rely on this remaining the case. COVID-19 will exploit any opportunity, and even the smallest cracks will let it in.
It is time to rethink garbage collection. Not just as part of the pandemic response, but as a newly designed system for the post-pandemic era.
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